A/N: Thanks again for all the new likes and follows. Shout out to PokeMark17 for catching the bad upload last chapter. Please PM me or comment on thoughts and ideas about the work as knowing there are people reading makes me happy, but I still need to know what you are thinking as you do. Also shout out to Magaro Mutis for writing about Sothoryos as well. His English is hard to understand, but the GREEN TOME he's working on seems fun. There's a Spanish version as well, but I read it in English. FYI. Thanks again.
27
Nahknani led him on foot, Lem following quickly behind, as her assembled team swung from the branches above. Nine they were in total: himself, Nahknani, and a collection of warrior women that would have made Nymeria herself proud. No two were similar, save the twins, each vastly different in age, size, coloring, and temperament.
Nahknani vouched for their ability and loyalty introducing them all to him before setting off on their mission. First, there was Ihkneenee. He knew why Nahknani introduced her first. She towered over the both of them, long gaunt limbs swaying as she moved. Even her face was long, drawn to her chin as if it was weighed down. Her fur was thinning, showing her advanced age. The chestnut tufts had mostly faded with patches of gray. But she stood well over seven feet, taller than Ootrahk, and strapped to her back was an enormous bow like he had never seen. "Neenee can fire an arrow half a mile with accuracy. As a huntress, there is no match in the seven clans, but for our purposes, she will do nicely as a scout and outrider."
"Most outriders are mounted, but she should do nicely." Aegon was surprised she had even heard of the term, but war was a language as old as life. He just hoped the walking tree could stay hidden.
Next was the stout and fearsome Ooklunk. Half as high but twice as wide as Neenee. Ooklunk looked as her name sounded so much so Aegon wondered if they waited to name her or changed her name to accommodate her appearance. Her face resembled the male Brindled Men he'd seen more than the other females. It was true, in comparison, Nahknani was beautiful, breathtaking even, compared to the rest of her Brindled Women, but Ooklunk was a different kind of ugly. Her jowels hung down like a hound. Her nose turned up like a warthog's. Her eyes were crowded by puffy eyelids and bags that made it looked like she hadn't slept for days. Her disposition was just about as rosy as her features. As Nahknani introduced her as the best fighter amongst them, she only grunted in response. She was less than excited to meet the Drahkness Kahn, turning immediately after being introduced to continue sharpening the edged stone attached to her maul. If Aegon didn't know any better, he could have sworn he had seen her in the forest with the tree clearers.
The twins were the next she introduced. Two younger, livelier . . . girls really, bounced up to him, their orange fur rolled into long thick strands that framed their dirty faces. They lived in the ground, as opposed to the branches and tents most of their kind settled in. Their hands were adjusted to a life of digging, their claws blunted and wide as opposed to the thinner sharper claws of the rest of them. They had a reserved energy about them, seeming mostly calm, until a burst flowed through each of them, sometimes simultaneously, and they would ignite into furious balls of activity and enthusiasm. They seemed at an age that they would have suffered the lusts of the guards he'd killed, for in their way, one might consider them pretty. Aegon struggled to pinpoint exactly what a Brindled Man might seek in a female, but they seemed to have the traits he thought would equate. Through the dirt still crusted to their fur were finer features, light hazel eyes (seemingly gold in the light of the torch), shapely figures, and a youthful playfulness that he imagined elicited the wrong kind of attention from their captors. He figured that must have been why they continued to thank him in their tongue.
As disinterested as Ooklunk was, the twins were the opposite, touching him and fawning over him as Nahknani had in the forest. Nahknani visibly fumed at the sight, promptly shooing them off to Aegon's amusement. "Jealous?" he asked. She ignored him.
She then quickly paraded the last three in front of him. Yunee, Vihktoona, and Sheree, three unassuming, plain looking Brindled Women. They stood before him, meek, damaged. Certainly, they too were abused by their captors, but showed less appreciation for their deaths, outwardly at least. They varied in appearance but shared the same look and stance. Unassuming, they held their sharpened sticks like walking staffs, unsure of how to use them otherwise most like. But as they stood before him, he could see the fire in their eyes. The fire missing from when he first saw Ootrihk. A burning rage inside had been stoked by the hope from his victory into the flame of defiant action. Or so he imagined. They saught blood, vengeance, or to free their men, as all three looked older than Nahknani and younger than Ihkneenee. Their husbands or sons could be the ones who needed rescue. He was glad to have them whatever the reason.
When they set off into the dark forest again, racing the impending dawn, hoping to reach the slavers before they woke, the Brindled Women tried to follow Aegon, at first. A stranger to the woods with genetically worse eyesight, he implored his accomplices to take the lead. The gesture surprised the women, though they happily obliged. There were things he would take the lead on. Killing mostly. He had the experience and the steel, but that would not be until later. If he meant to truly earn these people's freedom, victory, he'd have to empower them as much as lead. These were their lives, their lands, their loved ones. It was their fight. He had only pledged his sword. And life, if need be.
Nahknani's jog was his sprint, as he and Lem followed closely behind her, trying to match her strides through the thickening brush. They ran. Her girls swung. The blood in his veins pumped faster, tension rising, building, anticipating the impending bloodshed. As they neared, he tried to think of a plan, but he was still high off the previous victory, and becoming increasingly more drunk in anticipation for another battle. To say he liked killing would be hyperbole. To say he hated it would be an absolute lie. It wasn't purely the bloodshed that excited him as much as the righteousness in which he would strike his foes down. He felt those they opposed should die. Needed to. There was nothing worse, in his mind, than rapers and slavers. This night at least, he was given the opportunity to slay both. He grinned as he ran.
The night was long. They raced and ran through the pitch black for hours with nothing but the moon and the light bugs to illuminate their way. Blind progress over the treacherous terrain had become easier for Aegon with so much recent practice. It almost felt natural to be in the darkness now.
During the trip, he heard large animals rustle as they passed, but none seemingly had the will or courage to stop their progress. Vihktoona fell once, mistaking a vine for an enormous snake, but both the animal and warrior continued on, though Vihktoona stayed on the ground with Nahknani and Aegon the rest of the way. Three times different women called for a halt to catch their breath, as they were not used to this type of exertion. Aegon was glad for each rest, but within a few minutes, a couple sips of water Nahknani assured him would be fine, and Lem waddling away to relieve himself, they would set back off into the wood briskly and with deadly purpose.
Nahknani slowed to a halt when they were about a half mile away from their target. Ootrihk informed the group of the slaver's location. They had anchored their big bellied galleys a quarter league offshore just west of Zamettar, for no one dared to anchor in the ancient ruined city, but the shoreline was just right for their temporary encampment. There were cliffs above the camp creating a natural barrier from the wildlife, but those same cliffs were the perfect cover from above for an ambush, especially from archers, which these women were.
Though time was important, so was caution. If the nine of them approached a full camp of armed men and were spotted, they'd expose the clan's betrayal or be forced to offer up Aegon as their prize to the slavers. Nahknani sent Neenee out ahead to scout the enemy first. Caution was the better course. Once Aegon knew their numbers and location, he could plan the best route for a stealthy attack, killing them in their sleep one by one.
The elder archer leapt into the woods, scaling a nearby tree and swinging silently into the dark. Her length appeared as an extension of the tree limbs as she swayed smoothly through the canopy. Her gray fur helped camouflage her to the trunks and branches and in a heartbeat she vanished.
"She will arrive within the hour with word of their position and strength." Nahknani said. "We should rest. It may be our last chance for a while." She turned to her girls most likely relaying the same message. Ooklunk plopped down immediately, reached behind her back for a horn. She removed a pelt plug from the opening and chugged down a foamy liquid, some dripping down her jowls to the ground below. She turned to Aegon and grunted, gesturing toward the horn. He took it. Why not? And took a gulp. He swallowed it quickly, but the taste left in his pallet almost brought it right back up. His throat burned. He coughed, struggling to catch his breath. His gut gurgled. He asked, "What the hell was that?"
The girls were all laughing. Even Lem yelped. Behold your Drahkness Kahn. "That is the fermented breast milk from a new mother." Nahknani said, trying not to giggle herself. "Ooklunk is not fond of our berry wines, so she makes her own. How does it taste."
"I wouldn't recommend it," he replied, still coughing. "Give me water, anything. Please." He kept coughing, the sour taste in his mouth now much more disgusting knowing what he consumed.
The twins rustled through their pack and brought out their own horn, offering it to him in unison, their bright wide smiles reflecting the moonlight. He took the horn and sniffed it first, making sure he avoided the same joke twice. It smelled enough like wine, so he swilled it, then sipped it. He rinsed his pallet out before swallowing, clearing the taste from the milk, and gestured toward the twins to take their horn back.
"Thank you." He said. They smiled, giggled, and retreated back into the company of the other girls. In her haste to shoo the twins away, Nahknani had not introduced them.
After a few bites of food they had brought from their village, and the various drinks each consumed, Aegon and Nahknani found each other to plan what they could with the information they had.
Though they would not know their numbers or positioning until Neenee returned, they did know from Ootrihk a few of the specifics of their camp and plans. According to the conversation between JaHarle and Zlatan, in which Ootrihk was denigrated to little more than a cup bearer, the bulk of the slaver's fighting force had moved on toward another tribe, but enough were left behind to handle the movements of Ootrahk and his warriors. JaHarle employed the yellow flower, a plant the natives called the Sun's Last Kiss, to sedate their much larger foes rather than deal with their size and strength awake and alert. JaHarle and his clan learned to harvest the flowers' dust and dissolve it in drinks to make a dreaming potion. So there would be more slaves than slavers, most like, and they wouldn't be as alert guarding the sleeping beasts.
Ootrihk believed, though he explained he had never heard it said plainly, that the slavers would be ferrying their Brindled captives from the shore to the galleys, which were outfitted with shackles and cages to hold slaves as cargo, where, once fettered, they would be left aboard until they departed for New Ghis. If this was true, only a few captives at a time could be ferried, so many of the men would still be ashore, and those aboard the boats would not be sedated.
Their plan had to account for rescuing those ashore and aboard the ships, if there were any. For those ashore, Nahknani knew the antidote for the Sun's Last Kiss. It was a plant which reversed the effects and woke up any under the potions effects. There were side effects, however, and the jolt from the antidote usually sent men into rabid fits of rage, though very briefly. Aegon wasn't sure if that would be useful or harmful to their cause.
Once the slavers ashore were dealt with and the captives awakened, they would sneak onto the boat or boats to free the rest, hopefully with a larger fighting force than the nine that would shortly arrive. The specifics of the plan depended on what Neenee returned to say, but as they waited, Aegon and Nahknani tried to organize what they could with what they already knew.
Aegon would take the lead on the ground, descending from the cliffs and working his way around to the camp to attack with stealth and close quarters. If there were too many or they were alert and too close to each other, Nahknani would send the twins with him. Her reasons for nominating them were their ability to skulk and their experiences hunting on and under the ground had honed their skills, claiming all their kills with their bare paws. In close quarters, her archers would be of little use, and although Neenee was as capable if not more, her large size and length would be easily spotted. Aegon couldn't help but also consider Nahknani's eagerness to send the twins into danger stemmed from the attention they gave him, but she seemed less vindictive than that. Right?
Their plans as set as they could be without Neenee's report, they sat, waiting, trying to pass the anxious moments with whatever distraction they could. Nahknani reported to Vihktoona, Yunee, and Sheree as Ooklunk dozed into a drunken stupor, her mouth dribbling the rest of the fermented breast milk and snoring. Aegon sat in a small clearing honing the edges of his dirk. The sharper his weapon, the easier his kills, and with every stroke from the flint rock, he felt closer to the impending bloodshed. His heart fluttered in anticipation.
With Nahknani further off behind him, the twins snuck from the hidden brush and plopped down in front of him, sitting crosslegged with their arms folded on their laps. Each girl smiled at him as he looked up quickly, then continued to sharpen the blade.
They spoke to him in their native tongue, softly, as if lacking confidence, then giggled to themselves. He ignored their first attempt. With their second attempt, they tried to speak Valyrian. The tongue was hard to annunciate for him, and proved no easier for the twins. He understood more from their hand gestures than their attempts at the language, though their effort was commendable.
"I live Trihknee. Here lives Trihknah. We fire for drahkness kahn. You take then fight. We fire and hot." The one said, pointing to her sister when she mentioned 'Trihknah' and touching her chest and thighs mentioning the rest. Her sister matched her motions, though her mouth stayed silent and smiling.
Again? he thought, but now there's two. He thought of Lem, the man, and what lewd humor would result from this if he were here to goad him. Lem would more than likely fuck Nahknani if given the opportunity, but as sure as Aegon was about anything, Lem would have fucked the twins. He would have done it right there and then. Then, the next morning, he would boast in detail all his exploits and orgasms loud enough for anyone to hear with the pride of a conquering king. Aegon missed Lem. Even in the moments when he was reminded of how despicable Lem could truly be.
Aegon tried to ignore the twins as respectfully as possible, until they built up the courage to approach him. They crawled, sultry on all fours, their faces plain with lust. Aegon had been approached by attackers before, but had never been so unsure of how to defend against them. He thought to call out to Nahknani, but before he could, a rustle from the trees erupted with the long legs of Neenee, as she leapt down from the canopy.
She reported to Nahknani in their tongue, deliberately and intensely, her eyes focused and sober, and hard to read. She was either determined in her mission, excited at the prospect of the impending murder, or fearfully alert and nervous. In the dark, that was all he could tell before hearing Nahknani translate.
Ootrihk had the right of most of it. There were men camped at the shore, boats anchored in the water, rowboats ferrying sedated slaves, and Brindled captives aboard the ship, but he had failed to mention the rest. More boats seemed to be arriving with more slavers. Neenee counted as many as one hundred in the camp in total, though the small group designated for the Brindled Warriors was no more than ten.
The new camp was far enough down shore from the other, but she feared if one of the slavers sounded a horn for alarm, the remaining force was much too large to even run from, much less defeat. And if they were to free the warriors, they would have to board the ship off shore, for most of the captives had already been ferried.
"How many of our men are still ashore?" Aegon asked Nahknani.
"She says at least three, though there may be more she couldn't see," she replied.
"If we wake them with your plant, they will be in a rage and most like unable to remain hidden and silent. They will alert the remaining slavers and we'll be done for," he said.
"If we make for the boat, we will be safely away from their forces and can sail away before the dawn." She said.
"What about the remaining men ashore? We leave them?" he asked.
"If they wake, everyone dies. They would understand their sacrifice," she said, almost coldly.
"But what if we can save everyone? Here's what we are going to do."
They split up and approached the camp, still safely under the cover of thick darkness. The dawn would soon be upon them, but the sun had still yet to peak from beyond the horizon and the night was still as dark as it had ever been.
Nahknani led her group to the cliffs, where they could cover the ground attack with their bows, as Aegon and the twins scurried down to ground level where the slavers' tents were arranged just off the edge of the beach. Lem stayed put listening to Nahknani's commands. Not Aegon's.
The twins followed closely behind, their faces stern with focus, a welcome relief from the horny play he feared they'd employ now alone with him. They stalked through tall thin grass, the twins lower to the ground than he thought possible, slithering through the terrain like legged furry snakes. They were armed with nothing but their strong calloused paws, which were the only things about them beastly, but Nahknani assured him they could be deadly if needed.
As they approached the tents, five in total, he hoped the girls understood what was to happen next. Before departing their separate ways, Nahknani informed the twins of Aegon's plan and their part in it. They would attack each tent together, two inside and one outside to stand watch. If one of the tents stirred, or a slaver was walking outside, the watcher would sound a bird call. It might not matter, but if things went awry, he needed a better course than to just start hacking. Sure, he could fight the slavers head on and win, but if one had enough time to alert the reinforcements just down the beach, Aegon and the girls would all be dead.
He slipped into the first tent without hesitation. Time was now of the essence and hesitation would only cause harm to their plan. Trihknah followed silently behind, he deadly paws gently leading her inside as Trihknee, the more vocal of the two stayed outside to keep watch. Aegon unsheathed his dirk, then assumed his position next to a sleeping slaver as Trihknah assumed hers, her hands her weapons, drawn and ready. He looked to her, nodded, then they slayed their victims, Aegon stabbing his through his throat, Trihknah twisting her victim's head almost clean off. One down. Four to go.
They snuck into the next one and repeated the bloody business. They picked their victim, assumed position, then killed them in unison and silence. Entering the next tent, Trihknee whispered to Trihknah and quickly scuffled with her sister. He assumed she wanted a turn in the tent, so with a fiery look and a tap with the dirk on his chest, he silenced the bickering and continued inside. He was pretty sure Trihknee followed, but they were twins and it was dark.
He entered and approached his victim. The twin followed suit, but didn't wait for a nod. Instead, she crawled on top of the slaver, held his mouth and bit into his throat. She shook her head from side to side, as Aegon quickly slid the dirk into his victim who stirred to the sound. The twin ripped the man's throat from his neck, spit it out, and moaned softly. She said something to the dead man in her language as his body expelled a soft murmur, his last breath, then wiped the blood from her mouth.
He shot her another look, in which she replied with a coy look of her own, then licked her lips and batted her eyelashes. This must be a form of flirting to them. Thankfully I'll never learn how they actually fornicate.
They slipped out of the tent with only two left. He quickly entered the next tent, the light from the sun softly emanating, though the sun itself had yet to peak out from the horizon. The dawn was quickly approaching and he hoped to be finished with the shore before the morning was fully upon them.
One of the twins, he did not know which, followed him in, and he quickly dispatched one victim, then turned and opened the other's throat. When he turned to exit, the twin who bit, presumably Trihknee, looked at him with coy disappointment. She said something to him in her tongue, then pouted. He assumed it was something like, "He was mine," but it could have been anything. He had no time for it. He ignored her, and moved toward the opening of the tent.
Coo Roo. Coo Roo. That was the bird call. Something was wrong. Trihknee heard it and at once, stood and exited the tent. He tried to grab her arm to pull her back, but she was out before his reach could grasp her. Fuck he thought. We're all dead.
He heard talking from outside the tent, as one of the slavers must have woken to piss or heard the noises.
"What are you doing here?" Aegon heard the voice say in Ghiscari.
"I am not speaking this speak," one of the twins said in Valyrian. I wonder who she learned that from.
The slaver replied in Valyrian, "What are you doing here?" There was no anger in his voice, yet. Just confusion.
"Would you like to see? Your friend was more than happy to see what we do," one of the twins replied. "I don't know to speak, but I can do other things. Better things. Come. See." Aegon could see the two silhouettes of the twins through the canvass of the tent. One touched the other as both seemed to be undressing the other. Wrapped in vines like the rest of their people, they pulled them off and whipped them down before turning to enter the tent Aegon was still hiding in. "You have more friend? Bring him. Quickly. There's little time." The slaver turned and stepping into his tent, and exited shortly thereafter with another shadow. Apparently Lem isn't the only man to want to fuck these women.
They entered the tent, naked, their full breasts swaying as they bent down to enter. When they entered, they smirked at Aegon, who stood ready to attack the horny slavers once inside.
The twins moved toward the dead bodies in the tent, which was dark enough to hide their murders and Aegon as he hid to the side of the entrance. He allowed both slavers to enter fully, their eyes fixed on the nude Brindled Women who were now lying on their backs, twisting their legs open and closed, exposing and covering their pussies in seductive twirls. Aegon stabbed them as they were trying to unsheathe their cocks from their underclothes, and they fell bleeding onto the naked twins.
"Take us now," one of the twins said, covered in the blood from both dead men, her legs spread fully, the pink lips of her vulva glistening wet and hairless. He didn't look, but still noticed, as he felt his manhood twinge and begin to stiffen. He shook his head to clear his thoughts, then shook his head no to the twins and exited the tent before his body could argue with him further.
Nahknani would kill you. She'd kill me. Plus I have no desire to lay with a Brindle Woman. Or two.
He brushed the bulge in his pants down and signaled to the women hiding in the cliffs above. The first part of their mission was complete and needed the rest of their strength for the next stage.
As the women from the cliffs climbed down, the twins re-wrapped their vines around their bodies. As the girls gathered the sedated Brindled Men and loaded them into the row boats, Aegon retrieved the ten short swords from their victims and changed into the garb of one of the slain slavers. Most were covered in blood, save the first man whose neck Trihknah snapped, so he donned his attire and met back up with the women.
They all huddled in to the row boat and set off toward the galley. Within their vessel were the nine of them and three of the warriors. Sheree, Vihktoona, and Yunee searched the warriors' faces, seemingly looking for loved ones. None were theirs. Their own faces returned to the scowls they had worn since he'd met them. They all huddled into the boat and feigned sedation themselves, hoping to blend in with the warriors, as Aegon posed as a slaver delivering cargo.
He rowed to the boat as a furry paw caressed the bottom of his calf, gently. It was one of the twins, lying in character like the rest, with one eye open, smirking at him. He shook his leg away, to which Nahknani noticed, and the twin returned to her fake sedation. These women are insatiable.
The sea was choppy. It hadn't occurred to him that they would have never been aboard a boat before, and soon, Ooklunk became seasick. Too much breast milk, eh? She turned to wretch off the side of the boat to the groans and muttering of the rest of the girls, but after a few heaves, she wiped her mouth and said, "Ahtch ka. Gooz." He had no idea what it meant, but she slinked back down into her own fake sedation. He hoped no one saw.
As he continued to row, he felt naked, vulnerable on the water. Their boat was a sitting duck, alone and undefended, and if either the boat they approached, or the larger force ashore noticed their coming or their attack, there was nothing they could do but die. Their only advantage was the still rising sun glaring viscously off the top of the water, and the rowboat was probably difficult to see from either the galley or the shore. He hoped it was anyway.
When the boat made its final approach, a slaver stood awaiting his arrival. He knew enough Ghiscari to have a quick back and forth with the man before springing into action, but he was afraid the man would ask questions before the boat was close enough to attack.
He shouted something from afar Aegon heard, but could not understand.
"What," he replied, pretending not to hear him. The man repeated his question. "What," Aegon said again. It continued until the row boat touched the stern of the ship. The slaver leaned down, throwing Aegon a rope. Aegon climbed it, the slaver asking one more time, his face groggy, his eyes glossy, and his overall demeanor confused to see one man ferrying over so many captives.
"What," he said one more time, climbing aboard and cutting the slaver's throat. The confused look on the man's face only deepened as his blood spilled onto the deck of the ship.
Aegon whispered down to the girls, "I'll clear the deck and be right back."
Dressed as an ally, he approached the few remaining slavers on the ship, each positioned at different posts alone still tired or sleeping, quickly killing them, catching their limp bodies, and softly placing them down to avoid the crash of their body on the deck. He killed four more and he returned to the row boat, tossing down more ropes to secure the smaller vessel and provide a way to climb aboard. Nahknani was the last to board, applying her antidote to the sedated warriors before she left the rowboat for the galley.
As the warriors began to stir, he and the girls stole down into the belly of the boat to finish off the remaining crew and free the Brindled Men.
They seemed to be all there, fettered and in cages meant for animals. Vihktoona, Yunee, and Sheree ran from cage to cage, searching for their loved one. Each found him. Vihktoona found her son. Yunee her husband. And Sheree found a man she said was her brother.
Nahknani found Ootrahk.
"Pleasure to see you again, pink man. Missed me so much you had to visit, huh?" He said, his face scarred with deep cuts and plastered with a huge smile.
"After the last time we met, how could I stay away?"